Rufus Lumley

Rufus was born in 1938, grew up and seemed to spend much of his life in Connecticut in the area bounded by New York & Rhode Island. He went To Lodge Professional School, a high school in New York that trained actors (a sort of 'Fame' type place). It seems his main 'skill' back then was his dancing ability. In 1957, he was based out of Bridgeport and was performing locally as a 'hillbilly' singer (doing a cowboy type song show). He then got involved with shows staged by the University of Bridgeport (around 1958/59). In 1959, he enlisted in the US Air Force and was sent to a base in Texas. No doubt his spell in the air force resulted in him 'living all over the US'. After his stint in the air force was over, he returned to Connecticut and he next turns up in the New York area trying to land a record deal. This he did, initially with Holton and then RCA. As by the mid 60's, soul type songs were dominating the charts, Holton seemed to have got him to record stuff in a similar mode. In summer 1966, he was holding down an engagement singing in a Norwalk, Connecticut restaurant (accompanying himself on the organ), so his Holton record deal doesn't seem to have raised his profile that much. When signed to RCA in 67, he was sent on visits to radio stns as far afield as Chicago to plug his records. He also had a spell in LA (1968) during which he played lots of live shows (perhaps he was trying to break into acting as well). In the mid to late 70's he was living in Baltic, Connecticut (a small place between Hartford & Providence). So by 1978, he would have been 40 years old and probably gave up his dream to make it as a recording star around then and took a 9-to-5 job.